Researchers Sasha Tetu, Katy Breakwell, Liam Elbourne, Andrew Holmes, Michael Gillings and Ian Paulsen from Macquarie University, are exploring how this alien ecosystem works. They published their findings this week in the journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, showing that an unusual combination of microbes thrive in the Weebubbie caves.

“Earlier studies on the community suggested that there was an unusual chemistry going on in the caves, but we didn’t know how the microbes were making a living in the cave environment,” says the lead scientist Professor Ian Paulsen, Macquarie University.